Martin O’Neill optimistic about Republic of Ireland despite Sweden draw

Hoolahan scored for Ireland in their 1-1 draw with Sweden yesterday and put in a performance that confounds the fact that he has been absent from the worldwide team for so long in the past.

That may seem extremely premature, but it is one of few possible conclusions from what amounted to an effective play-off between these teams – unless something drastic changes.

And the manager confirmed that the Stoke player is a major doubt ahead of the second group game with Belgium before turning his attention to Ireland’s last two opponents who played on Monday night – Italy, of course, winning 2-0.

“I thought the players played him exceptionally well today, I thought that we were dominant in that aspect”, Ireland coach Martin O’Neill told a media conference.

Ireland started the second half with determination and soon came the reward, as they scored the opening goal of the game in 48th minute.

He said: “To be a forward you need support”.

The learning curve for Ireland is steep and they have to hope their experiences against Sweden will help them to climb it.

Ireland were the better team for much of the game in Paris yesterday evening, but were held to a 1-1 draw by Sweden via a Ciarán Clark own goal.

O’Neill was particularly pleased with how his players dealt with the threat of Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Defender John O’Shea missed the clearest opportunity after failing to get a touch to an inviting flick when three yards out in front of an open net. This 1-1 draw was not the story of the one big star stepping up. We forced him away from our goal as much as we possibly could.

“Going forward, our attack did not function in the first half”. They were great, really great, and should have been in the lead.

Sweden were terrible at this stage and looked so ragged, but that was partly because of the fine performance of Hoolahan.

A fantastic run and cross by Seamus Coleman fell to Hoolahan, who took his chance brilliantly half-volleying into the corner. The already excellent atmosphere turned raucous at the Irish end.

On his early withdrawal, Hoolahan added: “My calf was playing up a little bit but I should be fine”. But it only ended up being the foundation for another Ibrahimovic intervention. But Erik Hamrén’s side were very much the side in control, thriving on the growing influence of Ibrahimovic, who nearly found the far corner with a neat flicked effort that flashed just wide of Randolph’s far post.

The Republic could not hold on, as the largely well-shackled Zlatan Ibrahimovic prompted an own goal from Ciaran Clark, but Brady gushed with praise for his 34-year-old club colleague – finally enjoying his moment in the sun after being left on the shelf during the Giovanni Trapattoni era.

It typically took Ibrahimovic, however, to convert that pressure into a goal.

On 60 minutes, Ibrahimovic showed the type of technique that’s made him a football icon.